Globetrotting with third-world passport since 2006.

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Are all Dutchmen as funny as you?

I met Jerry online yearrrsss ago via blogging. He always read my post no matter how uninteresting it is and he has this sense of humor that I didn’t really get. Xp

When I mentioned about my European plan (lonngg time before I bought the ticket) he said that I had to come to Netherlands and he would guide me to the best stuffs (weed *ahem* weed) but I didn’t say yes because my initial plan was only two weeks and only covered Italy and France. But he never gave up to lure me into Netherlands with sweet stories of Netherlands (and the fact that there is Van Gogh Museum) so when I extended the European plan to 4 weeks, I put Amsterdam on it.

Bandi was sick on the second day we were in Amsterdam so I was worried that he won’t be fit on the third day because Jerry has prepared the full day adventure with both of us on the third day. Thankfully Bandi woke up healthy the next day, yaiy!

Jerry picked us up in the morning at our host’s house and we went to have coffee in Van Gogh Cafe while waiting for our Canal boat cruise to start. The cruise was interesting because Jerry kept adding comment to the guide’s story. He liked to joke and to be honest sometimes I couldn’t tell when he was joking and when he was not. Well I guess he was joking all the time so I never believed his words. LOL.

Us, on board the Canal cruise,

The canal seen from inside the boat.

After the canal cruise, we went to have another coffee in a memorial cafe. I didn’t remember what was the name of the cafe but I do remember the story. Jerry brought us to sit by the window, staring at the canal and told us the story about the wife who was drown (or killed?) and she keeps calling her husband’s name. Some people said that they heard the sound of woman crying. I hope this story is right or else I’m busted to not listening to your story, Jerry! Xp

Our second drink of the day!

But the view was beautiful though. ;)

It is said to be a “haunted canal” LOLOL

And then the car trip began! And I’m so glaaaaaaaddd we did this because it was one of my favorite moment during the whole Europe trip! :)

Jerry drove about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam to a small town named Zaanstad. I didn’t have any idea what I was about to see because I didn’t listen to Jerry. (LOL) We passed by some cute cows too during the trip. Ah I wish I could take photos of the cows. The cows were so fat! They are cuteeee I wanted to touch theeem!!!

Anyway, pardon my weird obsession with farm animals. Ahem, so we finally reached Zaanstad. The first thing that Bandi and I said when we got out of the car was… “what is this smell?”

“It’s cocoa.” Jerry answered.

“It’s the smell of my childhood!!!” I said.

Ahhh!!! it’s the smell of Van Houten cocoa powder that my mom liked to use to make marble cake. It’s the smell of my childhood and I looove my childhood when I didn’t know much about how cruel the world is… Ahem, okay, enough drama queen! Let’s get back to the story.

We visited this.

Zaanstad.

Yep! We didn’t visit a chocolate factory! We visited real town with windmills!!! OH MY GOD!! SO FREAKING AWESOME! I’ve never seen windmills before in my life!! I am a city girl! yeah yeah, whatever.

The chocolate smell was from one of the windmill which produce chocolate. Jerry also bought me chocolate and when I said “thank you Jerry!” he answered, “Shut up!” Man, what kind of manner is that? Tsk. (LOL)

Ok, then it was time for the real experience. Let’s go inside the windmill!!! I chose to go in to two windwill. First was the spice mills.

The grinder behind me was fully controlled by the wind.

It was a great experience for me, going to a small dutch town with a real dutch specialty, robbing Indonesian’s spices, building windmill. LOLOLOL.

Second was the saw mills.

The moving saw was controlled by the wind!

The logs were coming straight from the boats, not that small boat of course, dugh!

Different type of wood sizes.

We went for a late lunch in a very nice restaurant, and seriously I don’t bullshit you, Jerry, it was the best meal I’ve ever had during the trip. You have a good taste. ;) Love the beef. Sadly, I forgot to take photos.

Now that we’re full, we’re heading back to Amsterdam. Hiks, bye Zaanstad!

And it wasn’t a true Dutch experience unless you drink with them!

Our third drink of the day!

Oh I wish we had more time for a free champagne. :p Thank you again for the drink, Jerry! And don’t reply “shut up!” LOL

And then we headed to the most hype area in Amsterdam now, EYE. It’s called EYE because the tiny island does look like an eye. It is actually a movie theatre that screen European, hollywood, asian, even bollywood movies. So Bandi asked for some movie advises from Jerry. Thank you for the list, Jerry! Now I just need to shift my time from playing playstation to watching European movie. LOL

The last Supper. :p

The night then fell, and we watched the sunset from the EYE. Too bad Bandi and I needed to catch our night train to Basel.

It was a very great experience to be sharing trips and meals with a funny wonderful Dutchman. Life itself is funny. What are the odds of meeting a blogger friend on the other side of the globe with nothing in common, but then turned out to be a very wonderful companion. =)

Bandi and I are so grateful for our acquaintances and we hope we could meet you again.

At the end of our day I asked Jerry, “Are all Dutchmen as funny as you?”

“Yes. And we are charming too.”

Haha! I never knew Dutchmen are funny. Yes, Italian guys are sexy, French men are romantic. So the only thing that could make Dutchmen compete with them is the sense of humor. Thankfully they got it. Ha!

After my encounter with Jerry, I did realize that almost all dutchmen have witty sense of humour. The ticket man, the coffee man, even the bus driver, they all suddenly looked very different to me. Not the all-scary colonialist that used to bully the Indonesians, but the warm, relaxed and funny people.

I guess the history did happen and there is nothing we can do about it but we live in the present and thanks for being the cool Dutchman so I’ve gained a new perspective for Dutch people. =)

Writing this post has also refreshed my memory about one important thing in our Europe Trip. We were so blessed with not only wonderful weather, but also wonderful people throughout the journey. I can’t stop counting my blessings.

Beautiful pics! May, Jerry is surely exceptional. He is definitely the coolest, 2.0 grandpa I know. Looks like you had fun with him. He’s a good host. So sorry I couldn’t join you then and that our appointment didn’t go well at Rijksmuseum. Till next visit to the Low Lands.

Oh my..Eh.. what can I say in return??? Well, that I had the nicest, entertaining and interesting couple of people as my company that Sunday:). I’M SERIOUS!!! And, please, don’t forget to drop in when you and Bandi take on the “Woodlands to Woking” adventure :).

Wat leuk zeg! So you visited Zaanse Schaans yaa? Indeed May, there are a lot of cows once you get out from the center of Amsterdam. They are fat and super cute. Sometimes I jump over to the farm land and pet the animals, like cows or sheep and sometimes pony! (that is not allowed of course..but it happened only twice tho’!) Looked that you had fantastic trip in NL, too bad we didnt see each other :( next trip OK? x

Wat leuk zeg –> Does it mean “what the fuck”? HAHAHAHA
Ahhhh!! Jerry said I can’t touch them when I asked whether I could touch them or not. He said there was a special farm for kids where we can touch the farm animals, but of course I felt insulted because I’m not a kid. LOL

I misinformed you. You can touch them. If you manage to jump over the ditches. And if there’s no bull around on the pasture – or an angry farmer :). So I prefer touching cows on children’s farms as a promise for the future – especially if the actual present time schedule doesn’t allow for detours :).